Another tale about power, fear, and, ultimately, dignity.
The state of Dongwei was under the reign of the Yuan family. At age of 11, Shan Yuan took to the throne in haste after his father, the king, fled the country. The runaway was caused by the years-long oppression from Prime Minister Yang Gao. Gao was astute, brutal, and power-hungry. He seized almost every power to rule the country, except one — the royal blood. He could take the crown by force but he feared losing the confidence of his people and facing the endless revenge ensured. He was seeking the best way of kingship transition — the Yuan family willingly transferred the royalty to him.
He continued to work his plan on the young king Shan Yuan for another 16 years. Finally, Yuan voluntarily gave up the monarchy to Gao. Gao announced his peaceful claim to the throne and renamed the state to Beiqi.
As Gao reached the pinnacle of power, so did his paranoid. Any signs in nature and people could lead to his suspicion, trepidation, and increasing atrocities. Three years after the power transition, he killed Shan Yuan and his three sons. But instead of easing his nerve, it only added to the fear spiral. One day, a solar eclipse took place in the sky. Gao’s fear reached its peak. And an unknown force pushed him to visit a Yuan family member, Shao Yuan, who remained a government official at that time. He told the officer a story. 200 years before, a rebel army led by Mang Wang took the country from King Liu. 30 years later, Liu fought back and regained the reign.
“Why?” asked King Gao, trying to hide his wariness.
“Mang Wang should have killed everyone in Liu’s family. To kill the grass, you have to kill the root,” answered the trembling Shao Yuan, knowing what a bias could lead to.
But he didn’t know that was the answer Gao came to seek. The king was looking for an assertion of his growing brutality. He started the massacre on Yuan’s family, including children and the related families. Soon the fear spread to all the families under the name of Yuan. One day, some prominent figures in the name of Yuan met to discuss the crisis.
“We have to give up our family name,” suggested Jing’an Yuan, a middle-level officer. “We must change it to Gao to show absolute loyalty.” In the room sat Jing’an’s cousin, Jinghao. He strongly objected to the idea. “What is a big man? He would rather be broken shards of jade than to remain a whole tile. Changing my family name? You’d better kill me than save me in this disgrace.” Jing’an reported his cousin after the meeting. Jinghao and his family were executed immediately. Three months later, King Gao died of disease; 18 years later, the state of Beiqi collapsed. The name of Yuan was saved.
“Better a jade shard than a whole tile” became a most quoted oath by heroes since it was first cast 1600 years ago.
